Purnell’s is not a restaurant that I ever had particularly
on my radar - chiefly because it is in Birmingham and I am not.
But, D, much to his disgust, not only had to
work on his birthday this year but, what
is more, had to do so in Birmingham. So we decided to make the best of an
unfortunate set of circumstances (work may be dull but it is the means by which
we get money to play) and hit the town.
Although not to paint it red because I am incapable of painting anything
any colour but the palest shade of baby pink these days – I blame being in my
fourth decade.
In fact, we confined our pre
dinner drinking to a couple of sneaky halves in Brewdog.
I think I’ve mentioned that D has, in the
last few years, developed a real interest in real ales and Brewdog is a
favourite of both his and my brother (who, like Remmington Steele, liked it so
much that he bought shares in the company).
Incidentally, the Birmingham branch is particularly fabulous – or
whatever adjective is more appropriate to the carefully cultivated, industrial
style grubbiness of the interior.
But Purnell’s. We had
the tasting menu, of course (here called “the Tour”) with the matching wine
which pushed the price up into what I like to call “Eeep” territory. Which is ok for birthdays. And they do have a set 3 course lunch menu
for £30 which looks very nice indeed. For
I would heartily recommend that, should you ever find yourself in Birmingham,
you pay Purnell’s a visit. The food was
delicious, the wines thoughtfully chosen and interesting, the staff a delight,
the atmosphere relaxed and unstilted.
Bread arrived at the table shortly after we did and
throughout the course of the evening we demolished nearly an entire loaf of
this pain de campagne, which came, as unprepossessing as you like, with whipped
butter and a little pile of rock salt crystals.
While appearing plain when compared to the elaborately flavoured bakes
that some places send out, it was crisp and light and utterly delicious –
perfect for plate mopping purposes. And,
apparently, baked in house daily. We
were off to a good start. A good start
that continued when we were presented by an amuse of miniature baked potatoes
and watercress mayonnaise. The chef
advised that we use our fingers. We were
more than happy to do so.
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| Bread! |
Simplistic, almost rustic, presentation was not a
constant.
Some of the courses were more
elaborate: the “Remoulade 2012”, for example, came as three individual
constituent parts with instructions as to how to eat them (I know that some
people hate this kind of faffy eating but I generally find it amusing).
However, the stand out dish for both of us was
the monkfish with red lentil dahl and coriander and coconut cream, which was
back at the plainer end of the spectrum.
The combination of the peppery plump flakes of fish with the soft,
yielding spice of the lentils was utterly delicious.
I believe that this dish won the fish course
in an early series of Great British Menu and a recipe can be found on the BBC
site
here.
Expect to see it popping up
in a menu plan soon.
 |
| Monkfish! |
The only course that was slightly underwhelming was the
cheese.
It was fine, just a little
unexciting.
Perhaps we have cheese
ennui?
How terrible, if so!
But the first of the two puddings, “Mint
Choccy Chip” tasted like a Peppermint Aero as made by angels, and the second
included the richest, sweetest, silkiest vanilla crème brulee that I can ever
remember eating – served in an egg shell.
So I was perfectly willing to forgive and forget.
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| Mint choccy chip - complete with minty fog |
 |
| Egg! |
I can’t imagine we will find ourselves in the vicinity of
Purnell’s again in the near future which is a shame because the food and,
indeed, the experience, was a pleasure from start to finish.
I shall content myself by attempting to
recreate the masala spiced monkfish and staring intently at eggs in the hope
that the power of wishful thinking can insert vanilla custard into the
shells.
In the meantime should you,
gentle reader, be celebrating a birthday, an anniversary or a Tuesday in
Birmingham, I would highly commend it to you as a destination.
Purnell's
55 Cornwall Street
Birmingham
B3 2DH
0121 212 9799
